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future birth (jīvana mukta) and hence entitled to openly play the role of a second Mahāvīra. He would have done so himself only after formally embracing asceticism. However, destiny had planned otherwise. Due to his premature death, his dream of becoming a second Mahāvīra remained unfulfilled. However, in the last days of his life, he openly proclaimed to his few monk-disciples such as Lalluji and Devakaraṇajī that they should not distinguish between himself and Mahāvīra.
THE HOUSEHOLDER STATUS AND SELF-REALIZATION
The religious stage of a householder is lower than that of a monk, and unless the former becomes a monk there is no salvation for him. This is, of course, a generalized rule. There are exceptions. Some householders like King Bhārata or the merchant Sudarsana are supposed to have attained liberation in their householder's stage of life only. The Svetämbara Jain tradition theoretically as well as practically asserts fifteen types of liberated souls and include householders among them who are capable of attaining liberation without becoming a monk. While the Digambara Jain tradition, laying more emphasis on the nudity of a monk, rejects the householders' claim on liberation (the Vedic or Brāhmaṇic systems like Vedānta and Vaişnavism do not consider asceticism as a must for liberation.)
There is one more crucial point. Jainism applies the concept dravya or physical and bhāva or psychical to some philosophical categories. For example, dravya karma means physical karmic material and bhāva karma its corresponding psychic and karmic thought activity. In case of spiritual stages or gunasthānas of an aspirant, such as that of a householder or of a monk, this concept is also in usage. For example, a sheer dravya linga muni holds only external characteristics of a monk such as nudity etc. but his inner thought activities may not be pure. So, for becoming a real monk he should possess inner spiritual qualities or bhāva linga of a monk. Now a real problem arises. Is it possible for a householder to have a bhāva linga or inner purity of soul befitting a monk? If yes, then as a natural logical conclusion even though an aspirant is externally householder, by climbing all rungs of gunasthāna or ladder of spiritual
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